Whether you operate a B2B or B2C business, having an effective sales team is essential to executing your strategy and reaching your revenue goals. Sales is one of the most important aspects of any company, as it’s often the foundation upon which a company’s future rests.
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To succeed in this role, you need to be able to ask yourself some tough questions when hiring a sales representative. Today we’re going to take a look at 7 critical questions you need to ask yourself before hiring a sales development representative. These questions will help you identify whether or not the potential hire has the potential to grow into an effective team member with room for further growth. If they don’t have the answer, they probably shouldn’t be working in sales.
What is the current performance of your sales team?
When you hire someone to represent your company, you have a responsibility to watch how they perform. If you don’t, you should be held accountable for any mistakes made by the representative. A good way to start is by reviewing your team’s overall performance. This will help you know what your team’s current strengths and weaknesses are. You can also compare this to the performance of your competitors to get an idea of where your team stands in the market. You’ll also want to take a look at your sales team’s revenue and revenue growth. You can use these numbers to see if there is room for growth.
How much room is there for growth (Y learns and training required)?
Another important question to ask yourself when hiring a sales development representative is how much room they have for growth. This will help you determine whether or not you have the ability to help mold the sales rep into an effective sales leader. If the hire has little to none room for growth, you have to ask yourself if you’re interested in hiring someone who will likely end up leaving your company as soon as their contract expires. This doesn’t bring value to the company, just a paycheck and benefits. If the sales rep does have potential for growth, you’ll want to determine if this is something you and the team is able to help them achieve. Another important question to ask yourself is whether the sales rep has any experience in the industry that you operate in. If they don’t, they’re probably going to struggle with the nuances of your industry and customers.
How do you feel about working with other co-workers?
When hiring a representative, you want to ensure that you feel comfortable working with them. If you don’t, you run the risk of resenting them after only a few months on the job. This can cause friction in your company and ultimately lead to the termination of your sales team. One way to help ensure this is to ask yourself how you feel about working with other co-workers on the sales team. This is a good place to start because many companies hire for personality more than skill. In many cases, you’ll find that some sales reps are hired based on their ability to be a good fit for the rest of the team.
What is the current salary range for this role?
Another critical question to ask yourself is the current salary range for this role. Depending on your industry, the salary range might be different than the salary range in your company. One way to help ensure that you’re hiring for a number that fits in with your company’s salary range is to ask the candidate what they currently earn. If they don’t want to disclose this information, don’t hire them. If the candidate does want to disclose their salary, you now have an idea of how much they’re currently earning. You can use this information to create a salary range that will be appealing to the entire sales team. This can help you avoid hiring someone who is overpaid while at the same time keeping the salary range realistic for the sales team as a whole.
Is there any flexibility in the position or required hours?
Another critical question to ask yourself is whether the sales rep has any flexibility in the position or required hours. This can help you determine if the person has any flexibility in their schedule and if they’d be willing to work odd hours. If the sales rep works a standard schedule Monday through Friday 9am-5pm, but there is flexibility in the job description, then you need to be careful about hiring someone for this role. Be sure to ask the candidate what flexibility, if any, there is in the job description. If the sales rep has flexibility in their schedule, but there are required hours, you’ll want to determine if there is any room for flexibility.
Is there any minimum time commitment required?
Another critical question to ask yourself is what the minimum time commitment required is. This can help you get a better idea of whether or not the representative is able to commit to your company. You want to make sure that the representative is comfortable committing to the role and working a certain amount of hours. This can help ensure that the representative is focused on the job and does not need to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. If the sales rep is comfortable committing to the role and working a certain amount of time, but there is no designated minimum time commitment, then you need to be careful about hiring this type of sales rep. You don’t want to hire someone who will be constantly looking for another job because they can’t commit to one.
Ask yourself what you’d require from a new hire.
These are just a handful of the questions you need to ask yourself when hiring a sales development representative. You’ll want to do your research and ask yourself these questions before you make a final decision on hiring someone. The questions we’ve discussed here are just a few that you can ask yourself to help you identify if the candidate has the potential to grow into an effective sales rep. You’ll want to make sure that the candidate has an understanding of the role, the company, and the industry before you make a final hiring decision. Once you have someone on the hiring table, you should be able to ask yourself these questions and identify if they have the potential to be an effective sales rep.
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